Dick Cheney the $100 Million Bionic Man Doesn't Want You to Afford Healthcare Approximating His Own - Atheist Nexus2015-08-02T21:37:20Zhttp://atheistnexus.org/forum/topics/dick-cheney-the-100-million-bionic-man-doesn-t-want-you-to-afford?xg_source=activity&id=2182797%3ATopic%3A2119085&feed=yes&xn_auth=noThank you so much!tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-12:2182797:Comment:21209832012-12-12T05:07:31.694ZJames M. Martinhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/JamesMMartin
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p> I don't like the word "hope"…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-12:2182797:Comment:21210412012-12-12T05:06:19.445ZJoan Denoohttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/JoanDenoo
<p>I don't like the word "hope" either and for the same reasons. However, I feel at a loss for words, especially when I have an ardent desire that you be well and happy. </p>
<p>I don't like the word "hope" either and for the same reasons. However, I feel at a loss for words, especially when I have an ardent desire that you be well and happy. </p> Two chemos have put me in rem…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-12:2182797:Comment:21210382012-12-12T04:56:42.666ZJames M. Martinhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/JamesMMartin
<p>Two chemos have put me in remission for over a decade now. No, I am not retired. Work daily. Not making enough to retire. Thanks for your hope, a word Nietzsche did not like.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Two chemos have put me in remission for over a decade now. No, I am not retired. Work daily. Not making enough to retire. Thanks for your hope, a word Nietzsche did not like.</p>
<p></p> Yes, I was presumed exposed,…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-11:2182797:Comment:21205732012-12-11T14:45:06.427ZJames Kzhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/JamesKz
<p>Yes, I was presumed exposed, as I was stationed in Spain (along with my family) for three years during the "mad cow disease" outbreak in Britain, before Europe banned beef imports from the UK.</p>
<p>There are tens of thousands of US military and dependents that fall into that category.</p>
<p>Exposure to the prion presumed to be the cause of BSE and vCJD does not mean I will develop it: it does mean I cannot donate blood. It cannot be tested for currently, thus the Red Cross and such…</p>
<p>Yes, I was presumed exposed, as I was stationed in Spain (along with my family) for three years during the "mad cow disease" outbreak in Britain, before Europe banned beef imports from the UK.</p>
<p>There are tens of thousands of US military and dependents that fall into that category.</p>
<p>Exposure to the prion presumed to be the cause of BSE and vCJD does not mean I will develop it: it does mean I cannot donate blood. It cannot be tested for currently, thus the Red Cross and such organisations can only ban donations. (They ask on their forms if you have lived in Europe and what dates, and detail it on their Website.)</p>
<p>The only known way at present to determine vCJD (an exclusionary diagnosis while alive) is a brain biopsy (presumably you should be dead for that).</p>
<p>As for James, I am sorry to learn of your own illness. You noted you "got atheism" upon diagnosis. It seems counter-intuitive that people would get religion from disease diagnoses: didn't God create disease and parasites and epilepsy and all those other disorders too? Why would one worship such evil?</p> I am sorry to learn of your L…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-11:2182797:Comment:21204252012-12-11T07:35:19.223ZJoan Denoohttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/JoanDenoo
<p>I am sorry to learn of your Leukemia, James, and hope you feel well. I understand rom a friend that he has little energy but otherwise feels fine. I suspect you deserve a rest after a lifetime of work. Are you retired? Did you make that adjustment well? A chronic illness can be a bother, but I agree, rather than acute leukemia or other cancers. I trust you take really good care of yourself. </p>
<p>I am sorry to learn of your Leukemia, James, and hope you feel well. I understand rom a friend that he has little energy but otherwise feels fine. I suspect you deserve a rest after a lifetime of work. Are you retired? Did you make that adjustment well? A chronic illness can be a bother, but I agree, rather than acute leukemia or other cancers. I trust you take really good care of yourself. </p> James Kz, you wrote, "because…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-11:2182797:Comment:21202482012-12-11T06:31:47.727ZJoan Denoohttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/JoanDenoo
<p>James Kz, you wrote, "<span>because of the evil VA that a certain unnamed political party would skin to the bone." When faced with these kinds of problems I think it is very important to name names and parties. Hold them accountable and challenge them. If you stand publicly with charges, there is a very high probability others would stand with you. You also wrote about BSE and vCJD. </span><br></br><br></br>"<span>BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is a progressive neurological disorder of…</span></p>
<p>James Kz, you wrote, "<span>because of the evil VA that a certain unnamed political party would skin to the bone." When faced with these kinds of problems I think it is very important to name names and parties. Hold them accountable and challenge them. If you stand publicly with charges, there is a very high probability others would stand with you. You also wrote about BSE and vCJD. </span><br/><br/>"<span>BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is a progressive neurological disorder of cattle; its symptoms are similar to a disease of sheep, called scrapie. BSE has been called "mad cow disease.""</span></p>
<p><span>"<span>given that BSE is believed to be the cause of variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob (vCJD) disease in humans, the two are often confused.</span><sup id="cite_ref-British_Medical_Journal_4-0" class="reference">"</sup></span></p>
<p><span>Are you saying you were exposed to these tragic diseases while serving our country? I imagine you are very angry, and rightly so. Are there others who were exposed as you? Have you sought them out to compare and contrast your experiences and then join together to hold people accountable? This is a tragic story. </span></p> No one wants my blood either:…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-11:2182797:Comment:21199142012-12-11T04:48:55.600ZJames M. Martinhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/JamesMMartin
<p>No one wants my blood either: I have leukemia. Some people get religion when they hear they have cancer. I became an atheist. But it would be a mistake to think that one led to the other, post hoc reasoning. I read that most men have too much iron in their blood. I have to eat folic acid. No big deal. My cancer is chronic, and if there were a God I would thank him for giving me the lesser evil, rather than, say, acute leukemia, cancer of the lung or final stage brain cancer. But God…</p>
<p>No one wants my blood either: I have leukemia. Some people get religion when they hear they have cancer. I became an atheist. But it would be a mistake to think that one led to the other, post hoc reasoning. I read that most men have too much iron in their blood. I have to eat folic acid. No big deal. My cancer is chronic, and if there were a God I would thank him for giving me the lesser evil, rather than, say, acute leukemia, cancer of the lung or final stage brain cancer. But God is so lacking in evidence and doctors so clearly the people keeping me alive, I worship them. Like the late great Richard ("Lord") Buckley was won't to say: "I worship people, I really do. I like a God I can get my hands on. I like a God I can get my BRAINS on." My God is DNA.</p> Perhaps there is a bright car…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-10:2182797:Comment:21197592012-12-10T17:09:02.576ZJames Kzhttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/JamesKz
<p>Perhaps there is a bright career in political satire for you.</p>
<p></p>
<p>As one of the 47% that lives off the teat of the Government as a disabled veteran whose benefits were taken away because I am "unemployable," I only have health care (and my wife as well) because of the evil VA that a certain unnamed political party would skin to the bone.</p>
<p></p>
<p>No amount of money would get me health insurance (due to epilepsy). Neither of us can get life insurance (so we have to save money…</p>
<p>Perhaps there is a bright career in political satire for you.</p>
<p></p>
<p>As one of the 47% that lives off the teat of the Government as a disabled veteran whose benefits were taken away because I am "unemployable," I only have health care (and my wife as well) because of the evil VA that a certain unnamed political party would skin to the bone.</p>
<p></p>
<p>No amount of money would get me health insurance (due to epilepsy). Neither of us can get life insurance (so we have to save money to die with).</p>
<p></p>
<p>Nice to see the former vice-president is up and about, too bad I couldn't donate blood either (something about BSE exposure when I was stationed in Spain during the Gulf War makes me unable to donate) - might have been nice to see him drooling and forgetting himself with a case of vCJD.</p> When I was in training, we di…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-10:2182797:Comment:21194122012-12-10T06:41:40.371ZJoan Denoohttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/JoanDenoo
<p>When I was in training, we did an experiment to see if talking to a therapist was more beneficial than talking to a hole in the wall. It turned out there was no difference. I don't mean to imply that talking to a hole in the wall is the same as writing on Atheist Nexus, because I do not believe that. I got some really good feedback and you are included in that assessment.</p>
<p>The thing I learned is that a person in some kind of emotional trauma benefits by talking or writing until that…</p>
<p>When I was in training, we did an experiment to see if talking to a therapist was more beneficial than talking to a hole in the wall. It turned out there was no difference. I don't mean to imply that talking to a hole in the wall is the same as writing on Atheist Nexus, because I do not believe that. I got some really good feedback and you are included in that assessment.</p>
<p>The thing I learned is that a person in some kind of emotional trauma benefits by talking or writing until that person begins to clearly see and hear him/her self, honestly and with no masks or pretenses.</p>
<p>You have had tough hurdles to overcome; these were not caused by you but rather by the social temper of the time. Hopefully, we are past the mindbinding that kept you from being who you truly are. Now, you can reach inside yourself for guidance and direction and trust that you are perfect, just the way you are. Or, more probably, perfectly imperfect. </p>
<p>Shibui is a Japanese word for perfectly imperfect. Do the Chinese have such a term or concept? I have adopted it for my motto and it seems to fit me well. I have no interest in being perfect, but I am interested in being truly me, without trying to live up to others' ideals. I sense that has been a challenge for you as well. </p>
<p>Your philosophy reflects so much gentleness and compassion. Thank you for being my friend.</p>
<p></p> Not complaining, Joan. I've…tag:atheistnexus.org,2012-12-10:2182797:Comment:21193882012-12-10T03:50:11.600ZDaniel Whttp://atheistnexus.org/profile/Daniel57
<p>Not complaining, Joan. I've seen much worse, and many have no way out. People assume a lot based on the moment. This moment is one I'm grateful for. You've had it rough too. Not wanting to go off topic here, but we will continue getting to know one another. It's great! As for whining, I never thought you were, just expressing what you felt.</p>
<p>Not complaining, Joan. I've seen much worse, and many have no way out. People assume a lot based on the moment. This moment is one I'm grateful for. You've had it rough too. Not wanting to go off topic here, but we will continue getting to know one another. It's great! As for whining, I never thought you were, just expressing what you felt.</p>